WCAG 2.1 Compliance Guide: Make Your Website Accessible

Accessibility should be built into your product from the start, not added later. When people with disabilities can't use your interface, you lose customers, increase support costs, and face legal risks.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) come from the World Wide Web Consortium. Think of them as the rulebook that defines what "accessible" means for websites and apps. These Web Content Accessibility Guidelines give you clear success criteria to work toward, making your web content accessible to everyone.

Why This Matters Now

In the United States, many state and local governments must now make their websites and mobile apps meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards. In Europe, the European Accessibility Act and similar accessibility laws worldwide are making digital accessibility a legal requirement, not just a nice-to-have feature. Understanding the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines helps website owners meet these accessibility requirements.

Here's the good news: building accessibility early actually saves you time and money. Fixing problems during design is much cheaper than fixing them after launch. Website owners who address accessibility issues early assist users more effectively and avoid costly retrofits later.

Understanding WCAG 2.1: The Basics

What Is WCAG 2.1?

WCAG 2.1 is the W3C’s set of testable success criteria for web content and user interfaces. It builds on WCAG 2.0 by adding nine new success criteria that address:

Mobile devices and different input modalities
Low vision needs
Cognitive and learning disabilities

The WCAG guidelines follow four simple principles - often called POUR - that ensure web content conforms to accessibility standards:

Perceivable - Users can see or hear your content.
Operable - Users can navigate and use operable user interface components.
Understandable - Users can comprehend your content and how it works.
Robust - Your robust content works with assistive technology like screen readers.

Which Level Should You Aim For?

WCAG conformance comes in three levels: A, AA, and AAA. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines define Level AA as the standard most websites and apps should target. It removes significant barriers for users while staying practical to build and test.

Level AAA conformance is useful for specific situations but is rarely needed for entire products. Meeting WCAG 2.1 Level AA ensures your digital content is accessible.

Common Problems WCAG 2.1 Fixes

The existing success criteria in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines target real problems that happen on websites every day:

Color and contrast problems - Text that's hard to read and lacks sufficient contrast.
Keyboard navigation issues - Features that only work with a mouse and don't support other input methods.
Screen reader problems - Content that screen reader users can't access.
Missing text alternatives - Images without descriptions.

Studies show that over 94.8% of websites have basic accessibility issues. The most common problems are low contrast, missing image descriptions (alt text), unlabeled form fields, empty links, empty buttons, and keyboard traps.

Fixing these accessibility barriers helps users navigate your site and ensures equal access for everyone. Following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines removes these significant barriers.

Making Your Design Accessible

Visual Design That Works for Everyone

Start with readability. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines require sufficient contrast:

Normal text needs a 4.5:1 contrast ratio;
Large text needs a 3:1 contrast ratio;

Use these numbers when choosing colors for creating content. Never use color alone to show information - always add a text label or icon too to help users avoid confusion.

Make sure your user interface components work when people zoom in or change text size based on their user settings. For images and charts in your digital content, write meaningful text alternatives.

If an image shows complex information, provide a summary that helps screen reader users and others understand the complete message.

Navigation and Interaction

Your site must work without a mouse to support different input modalities. This means creating operable user interface components with:

Logical tab order through the web page;
Visible focus indicators showing where you are on the same page;
No keyboard traps where users get stuck;
Components that let users operate functionality with keyboards;

Use standard HTML markup languages when possible - they work best with assistive technology like screen readers and are accessibility supported by default. If you create custom user interface components, make sure keyboard users can operate functionality just like mouse users can, meeting the individual success criteria for operability.

Avoid content that is automatically presented with user motion, or provide easy pause and stop controls. If motion cannot be stopped, give users a way to dismiss it. This helps people with cognitive disabilities and mobility impairments.

Forms need special attention:

Connect labels to form fields properly so an equivalent link exists between them.
Give clear instructions.
Mark required fields.
Provide helpful error messages that explain how to correct mistakes.

Good forms reduce support calls and help people with mobility impairments or cognitive or learning disabilities complete tasks successfully. They're primarily intended to assist users in completing their goals.

Clear and Simple Content

Use plain language and organize content predictably. Headings, clear navigation, and a consistent website layout help users navigate your digital content. When showing errors, explain what went wrong and how to fix it - skip the technical jargon.

Choose readable fonts with generous spacing. Simple design choices help people with cognitive disabilities or learning disabilities understand your content better.

Make sure your web page works on mobile devices in any display orientation (portrait or landscape). The same page should function well regardless of how people access it. Remember that future user agents and information and communication technology will also need to interpret your content correctly using various markup languages.

Building and Testing Your Site

Writing Accessible Code

Start with clean HTML and standard form controls. They're the most reliable foundation for screen reader compatibility and other assistive technology. Only add ARIA (special accessibility code) when standard HTML isn't enough, and you can't create a conforming alternate version that meets the success criteria.

For interactive apps, manage where focus goes when content changes. Use ARIA live regions to announce updates that assist users in understanding what happened, ensuring web content is accessible to everyone.

Treat keyboard support and focus behavior as requirements you must test, not optional features. Make website accessibility part of your code review checklist - check that individual success criteria are met before approving changes. This ensures your robust content meets WCAG compliance standards.

Testing for Accessibility

Automated tools help, but they can't catch everything. Tools like Axe DevTools, WAVE, and Lighthouse find common accessibility issues quickly - they're great for automated testing in your build process. But these automated tools can't tell if your image description makes sense, if your tab order is logical, or if your error messages actually help people.

That's why you need manual testing too:

Walk through your site using only a keyboard with different input methods.
Test with a screen reader (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver).
Check how it looks when zoomed in or with larger text.
Try it with different input modalities on mobile devices.

Use automated tools to find obvious problems fast, then do manual testing to catch the subtle issues and ensure true WCAG conformance. This combination helps you meet accessibility requirements comprehensively.

Making Accessibility Part of Your Process

Digital accessibility isn't a one-time project - it's an ongoing practice. Build WCAG 2.1 Level AA checks into your design system and development workflow. Create a library of accessible website components that are accessibility supported, with clear documentation that teams can follow easily. Following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines throughout your process ensures improved accessibility.

Here's what works:

Include web content accessibility checks in design reviews.
Test accessibility before approving code changes.
Train teams on basic accessibility requirements and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Make it part of your quality checklist.

Studies show over 90% of websites still have detectable WCAG failures. The most common problems? Low contrast and missing alt text. Catching these accessibility barriers during design and development is much cheaper than fixing them after launch, especially as accessibility laws and the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements continue to evolve.

Final Thoughts

When you build accessibility into your process following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, your products become:

Easier for everyone to use, providing equal access.
Cheaper to support with fewer accessibility issues.
Lower legal risk under accessibility laws.
Compliant with WCAG 2.1 Level AA and accessibility compliance standards.

Start with Level AA as your goal. Focus on the basics first - sufficient contrast, keyboard navigation, clear labels, and text alternatives. These accessibility efforts remove the biggest accessibility barriers and provide equal access for users with disabilities.

WCAG compliance isn't just about following rules or meeting the new success criteria. It's about creating digital content that works for everyone, regardless of their abilities or how they access your accessible website. When web accessibility is standard practice, everyone benefits - and that's good for users, good for business, and the right thing to do.